Just off the Lincoln Highway (up from Dixon on Illinois Route 2) is Grand Detour and a bit north of that, Oregon.
Grand Detour is just a tiny village (and a lovely one indeed). Why the stop there? This is where it all began for what is today Deere & Company. It’s the location of John Deere’s original blacksmith shop where he forged his first self-scouring steel plow and changed American agriculture forever. I toured the John Deere home and also visited the little museum. Here’s a link: John Deere Historic Site. The docent showing me around could not have been nicer. That’s the resident blacksmith at the site posing in one of the pictures. A picture perfect village and wonderful (and historic) stop.
Thence to the nearby city of Oregon. I did a short walkabout in the pretty downtown (complete with one very imposing county courthouse – the two war memorials are at the square surrounding the building) and then headed up to the Black Hawk statue (completed 1911) overlooking the Rock River in a park just outside of the city.
Finally, I saw some people fishing and took a few pictures. They called over to me when they saw me and asked me to take some more. I wound up emailing the whole set to them (there are a few more). Really nice guys. One of many treasured vignettes from my Lincoln Highway explorations (but there are so many).
Also in the park is the former Chana School, a schoolhouse dating back to 1883 (last picture).
